The path from 0 to 1 might start with asking and answering three questions. First, what is valuable? Second, what can I do? And third, what is nobody else doing? The questions themselves are straightforward. Question one illustrates the difference between business and academia; in academia, the number one sin is plagiarism, not triviality. So […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘Peter Thiel: Where to Start?’

In this keynote address from the Endeavor Entrepreneur Summit, serial entrepreneur and LinkedIn Co-Founder Reid Hoffman shares his views on the role of entrepreneurs in society and the impact they will play in the creating the future. Hoffman offers valuable rules of thumb for navigating the startup and entrepreneurial process, as well as answering questions […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘Entrepreneurs Will Create the Future’

The atmosphere in Silicon Valley is unlike anything I’ve experienced elsewhere. People’s openness to risk is what has enabled countless of startups to fundamentally change people’s lives for the better. There’s a real sense of personal responsibility amongst entrepreneurs that drives them forward. I’ve also found some people are hesitant to get started because if […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘The Silicon Valley Mindset’

It was the day of my father’s surgery. As expected, we all were apprehensive, most of all, my father. With the pre-op procedures underway, the nurse prepared to administer the anestesia. Thankfully my father asked which medication they were planning on using. You see, my father was what I call an active participant in life. […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘Be Your Own Advocate’

If by Rudyard Kipling If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too: If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or, being lied about, don’t deal […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘The Startup Ethos’

Since founding Reputely, I’ve thought about my own personal values and motivations for doing a startup and what I’d like to see the culture of Reputely evolve into one day. What people often don’t realize is that the single hardest part of any startup is: people. This presents itself in a number of different ways, […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘In a Startup: It’s About The People’

“You hear people in the Valley always say ‘I want my entrepreneurs to be hungry.” I agree with that, but think there’s a difference between being panicked and being hungry. And I think too often founders find themselves with negative net worth, credit card bills, etc and they get freaked out.” Continue reading ➝ – ‘Chris Sacca Helps Founders Cash Out Shares Early’

Background My mother recently passed away. I never would’ve expected to be 20 years old and have my only living relative be my 95 year old grandmother who suffers from Alzheimer’s. But, I’ll save my life story for another post. With any transformative event, there’s an ending, followed by neutrality, and then a beginning. During […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘How I Launched My MVP: Reputely’

Derek Sivers posted his thoughts and advice today on how to get hired. If you haven’t had a chance, take a minute to read his post. Sivers definitely provides some good advice, but there’s a few things here and there that would benefit from some clarification. To briefly sum up his advice: Choose one company […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘How to Actually Get Hired’

Here’s what I don’t understand: almost everyone wants to be successful but most simply aren’t willing to do the necessary work. The secret of success isn’t even a secret anymore but still almost no one gets it; it’s as if there is a pile of cash sitting and waiting for you to touch; but for […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘9 Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs’

Startups can turn out to be spectacularly successful, so long as, potential pain points are addressed. What are some key pain points of a startup? Your product isn’t up to par. Your marketing might not be compelling enough. You look at customer service as something that is outsourceable. There’s obviously many more, but the common […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘7 Ways to Make Your Customers Swoon Over You’

The following is a video and transcript of a talk Randy Komisar, KPCB partner, gave at Stanford University back in 2004. I highly recommend that anyone interested in entrepreneurship reads his book, The Monk and the Riddle: The Education of a Silicon Valley Entrepreneur. I always tell people that what distinguishes Silicon Valley is not […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘The Biggest Successes Are Often Bred From Failures’

“Sequoia focuses on younger entrepreneurs because people over 30 aren’t innovative.” – Douglas Leone, General Partner at Sequoia Capital Innovation in technology has rapidly lowered the barrier of entry to doing a web startup. In the past, one would need to raise a multimillion dollar Series A round just to get a working prototype. Today […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘On Ageism’

[Facebook.com is] an info aggregator with a great photos app. —Mike Vernal, Platform Engineering Head Facebook is the next Google. There, I said it. The recent comparison of Facebook to Twitter or Myspace is rather shortsighted. Today Facebook is a social-network. Tomorrow? Facebook would be content with shutting down Facebook.com. Why? Because Facebook will be interconnected with the entire web. Rather than relying on users visiting Facebook.com […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘The Future of Social’

I was in a board meeting last week and one of the company founders made a very interesting assertion about the difference between old media and new media. He asserted that old media is about how much money you can charge each viewer. New media is about how many viewers you can get. via avc.com […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘A Look Into New Media Business Models’

Most of you will think that the title is an attempt at fear mongering with regards to outsourcing. It’s not at all. Rather, I’d like to bring to everyone’s attention yet another example of how our economy is suffering. Applications for the H-1B visa, the non-immigrant visa that so many tech companies rely on to […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘Where have all the H-1B Applications gone?’